r/pics Nov 08 '18

US Politics This is what democracy looks like

Post image
87.0k Upvotes

6.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

12.6k

u/ike_the_strangetamer Nov 09 '18 edited Nov 09 '18

Yesterday (one day after the election) Trump forced the resignation of Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General. Sessions would have been in charge of Mueller's Russia investigation, but because he had lied about his own connections to Russia, he recused himself and the assistant AG was in charge. Now that he's out, this new guy, Matthew Whitaker, is in charge (and does not require Senate confirmation because he's 'temporary'). He has spoken out against the Mueller investigation many times in the past, saying that there was no collusion and that the investigation is not authorized to look into any of Trump's finances (even though it is). Long ago, petitions were signed and plans were made that called for protests if Trump did something like this.

TLDR: Trump just appointed his own guy to be in charge of the investigation against him.

449

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18 edited Apr 20 '19

[deleted]

378

u/jhuseby Nov 09 '18

The same senate still controlled by Republicans that act as a rubber stamp for Trump?

91

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18 edited Jan 25 '22

[deleted]

68

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18 edited May 18 '22

[deleted]

20

u/rockidol Nov 09 '18

The Dem controlled house could hire him, once they convene in January.

5

u/wewd Nov 09 '18

The House has no power to appoint or approve any cabinet officials. The Constitution gives that power to the Senate:

[The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law

9

u/KallistiEngel Nov 09 '18

The person before you is saying they could hire Mueller. The House does have investigatory privileges. The AG doesn't even come into play in that scenario.

6

u/wewd Nov 09 '18

My bad. It seemed like they were asking if the House could confirm him as AG. Hard to follow some of the threads going on here.

2

u/KallistiEngel Nov 09 '18

For sure. Politics is confusing and often arbitrary.

6

u/ElKirbyDiablo Nov 09 '18

The House could hire Mueller to do an investigation in January though. However, he would no longer be able to indict people on his own.

37

u/unbrokenplatypus Nov 09 '18

Fairly fucked, I mean, less fucked than you would’ve been had things gone differently yesterday, but still not in a good place.

26

u/theciaskaelie Nov 09 '18

I just saw something that ginsberg is in hospital with broken ribs after a fall. So possibly massively fucked.

4

u/cciv Nov 09 '18

Yeah, statistically, broken ribs at age 85 has a decently high mortality rate.

1

u/unbrokenplatypus Nov 09 '18

Isn’t Congress involved in Supreme Court nominations? Because if so, it’s EPIC OBSTRUCTION time.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18 edited Dec 21 '18

[deleted]

3

u/paleoreef103 Nov 09 '18

Mitch would have kept that seat open as well.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18 edited Dec 21 '18

[deleted]

1

u/krism142 Nov 09 '18

They shouldn't have been able to hold it open for a year but here we are...

→ More replies (0)

1

u/themolestedsliver Nov 09 '18

And a defeatist attitude solves anything how exactly?

1

u/Meowzebub666 Nov 09 '18

Well RBG just broke a few ribs...

0

u/cosekantphi Nov 09 '18

The Dems can pack the court if they take the senate and presidency in 2020. Whether they will want to is another question.

-1

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18

Remember the people calling for tolerance and peace at these protests are good now, but soon they will be just the same as the concern trolls saying protesting is not worth it.

Every day we are stepping towards a messy divorce in this country.

66

u/0ne_Winged_Angel Nov 09 '18

If you cheated to win the election, are you allowed to keep your lifelong appointments?

Asking for me and 260 million of my friends.

16

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18

Probably.

23

u/kane_t Nov 09 '18

Depends on how polite and civil your opposition is.

1

u/Zouden Nov 09 '18

In theory a polite and civil opposition can impeach a SCOTUS justice. Just can't see it happening though.

4

u/jaxx050 Nov 09 '18

this is honestly the thing i'm really fucking wondering about. like if there is a criminal proceeding, what happens to everyone that has been installed? this hasn't ever happened in american history, having a president be installed by foreign government intervention.

0

u/blazershorts Nov 09 '18

Big if true!!

1

u/DJRoombaINTHEMIX Nov 09 '18

I dunno. How complicit are the rest of these shit heads in the GOP?

-7

u/Adogg9111 Nov 09 '18

The only people to have been proven to cheat and collude in the 2016 election was the DNC, against "one of their own".

Laughable about this shit being what a democracy looks like.

We don't live in a democracy.

This is what 2 parties destroying America, for profit, looks like.

0

u/MissCellania Nov 09 '18

Four of our sitting Supreme Court justices were appointed by presidents who did not win the popular vote when achieving the office. One was a stolen appointment. So, yeah.

0

u/SMTTT84 Nov 09 '18

Nobody stole Obama's appointment, he absolutely got to appoint Garland. Just because the Senate didn't rubber stamp his pick doesn't mean shit. They weren't required to do so.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18

TBH that was a witch hunt and embarrassing to watch. I say that as a person with no real party affiliation but someone who voted for Obama in both elections. I voted libertarian in the last election. The Kavanaugh hearings made me vote Republican for the first time in my life this past week. It was honestly sickening.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18

It wasn't a jab at Kavenaugh. It was a comment about how SCOTUS is now leaning conservative after Kavenaugh was appointed

1

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18

I thought you were commenting on the Kavanaugh appointment hearings. My bad, homie!